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Recent Posts
- Iowa Education Challenges 05/08/2026
- Rethinking the Structure of American Secondary Education, by Qianruo Shen 23/07/2026
- I Got Access to Hundreds of Teacher Misconduct Complaints in California — and You Can Too 18/07/2026
- Modernizing Mathematics Education for Grades 9-14 16/07/2026
- How to Research Private Schools Like an Investigative Reporter 16/07/2026
- The Sage from the East: Michael Xu’s Story as a Mirror to America’s Math Education Crisis 11/07/2026
- Visual Models, Procedural Fluency, and Multiple Strategies:A Cognitive Critique of Common Core Elementary Mathematics 28/06/2026
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Category Archives: K-12
Close all USED-funded research centers: Evaluation of existing regulations: My two bits
My comments below in response to the USED request for comments on existing USED regulations. To submit your own, follow the instructions at: https://www.regulations.gov/document?D=ED-2017-OS-0074-0001 MEMORANDUM To: Hilary Malawer, Assistant General Counsel, Office of the General Counsel, U.S. Department of Education … Continue reading
Students Last
Will Fitzhugh The Concord Review 6 April 2017 The great social psychiatrist Harry Stack Sullivan wrote that the principal problem with communication is that we think we express meaning to others, when in fact we evoke it. That is, what … Continue reading
Significance of PISA math results
A new round of two international comparisons of student mathematics performance came out recently and there was a lot of interest because the reports were almost simultaneous, TIMSS[1] in late November 2016 and PISA[2] just a week later. They are … Continue reading
Posted in Education journalism, Education policy, Education Reform, information suppression, K-12, Mathematics, OECD, Testing/Assessment, Uncategorized, Wayne Bishop
Tagged Finland, OECD, PISA, TIMSS
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Yes, President Trump can do something about Common Core
For starters, he can shut down the federal funding of organizations that have supplied the misinformation that begat and continues to propagandize Common Core. While the Gates Foundation gets the most attention, government-funded entities play their part. For example, our … Continue reading
Among the Constructivists
The online journal Aeon posted (6 October, 2016) The Examined Life, by John Taylor, director of Learning, Teaching and Innovation at Cranleigh boarding school in Surrey (U.K.). https://aeon.co/essays/can-school-today-teach-anything-more-than-how-to-pass-exams Taylor advocates “independent learning” in describing his “ideal classroom”: “The atmosphere in … Continue reading
Does Common Core add up for California’s math students?*
As this public school year begins, districts across California are reporting student performance on new exams based on California’s adaptation of the controversial Common Core federal standards. Students and parents have good reason to be anxious about the newly released … Continue reading
John Hopkins flawed report on Kentucky
It looks like a recent, very problematic report from Johns Hopkins University, “For All Kids, How Kentucky is Closing the High School Graduation Gap for Low-Income Students,” is likely to get pushed well beyond the Bluegrass State’s borders. The publishers … Continue reading
‘One size fits all’ national tests not deeper or more rigorous
http://www.educationnews.org/education-policy-and-politics/one-size-fits-all-national-tests-not-deeper-or-more-rigorous/ Some say that now is a wonderful time to be a psychometrician — a testing and measurement professional. There are jobs aplenty, with high pay and great benefits. Work is available in the private sector at test development firms; … Continue reading
Censorship at Education Next
In response to their recent misleading articles about a fall 2015 Mathematica report that claims to (but does not) find predictive validity for the PARCC test with Massachusetts college students, I wrote the text below and submitted it to EdNext … Continue reading
PEISCH SAYS REPEALING COMMON CORE WOULD BE “HUGE MISTAKE”
It seems that some Massachusetts representatives don’t think that parents, teachers, and administrators should be allowed to vote on a secret ballot whether they want to keep Common Core’s inferior standards or return to the state’s superior standards junked by … Continue reading
Fordham Institute’s pretend research
The Thomas B. Fordham Institute has released a report, Evaluating the Content and Quality of Next Generation Assessments,[i] ostensibly an evaluative comparison of four testing programs, the Common Core-derived SBAC and PARCC, ACT’s Aspire, and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts’ MCAS.[ii] … Continue reading
Posted in College prep, Common Core, Education policy, Education Reform, Ethics, K-12, Mathematics, Reading & Writing, research ethics, Richard P. Phelps, Testing/Assessment, Uncategorized
Tagged CCSSO, CRESST, evaluation, Fordham Institute, Gates Foundation, guidelines, HumRRO, protocols, review, rigor, SCOPE, standards, Student Achievement Partners, testing
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How the USED has managed to get it wrong, again
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2016/02/03/dad-my-state-now-requires-11th-graders-to-take-the-sat-not-my-daughter/ An interesting dilemma. Common Core’s writers planned for a grade 11 test that would tell us whether or not students were college and career ready. Parents and state legislators don’t know who sets the cut score, what test items … Continue reading
Posted in College prep, Common Core, Education policy, ESSA, K-12, Reading & Writing, Sandra Stotsky, Testing/Assessment
Tagged ACT, college admission, common core, ESEA, ESSA, federal government, PARCC, SAT, SBAC
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Trickle Down Academic Elitism
When [mid-20th century] I was in a private school in Northern California, I won a “gold” medal for first place in a track meet of the Private School Conference of Northern California for the high jump [5’6”]—which I thought was … Continue reading
Posted in College prep, Education Fraud, Education policy, K-12, Testing/Assessment, Will Fitzhugh
Tagged awards, elitism, recognition, standards
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Common Core’s Language Arts
It is often said that scientific writing is dull and boring to read. Writers choose words carefully; mean for them to be interpreted precisely and, so, employ vocabulary that may be precise, but is often obscure. Judgmental terms—particularly the many … Continue reading
Wayne Bishop’s observations on the Aspen Ideas Festival session, “Is Math Important?”
Editors’ Note: David Leonhardt is Washington Bureau Chief for the New York Times, won a Pulitzer Prize for his reporting on economic issues, and majored in applied mathematics as an undergraduate at Yale. Mr. Leonhardt chaired the panel, “Deep Dive: … Continue reading
Posted in Education Fraud, K-12, math, Mathematics, Wayne Bishop
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David Coleman in Charge
Wayne Bishop recently made me aware of the unfortunately completely one-sided discussion of US mathematics education at the recent Aspen Ideas Festival. David Leonhardt is Washington Bureau Chief for the New York Times, won a Pulitzer Prize for his reporting … Continue reading
Jay Mathews: pt 1 of 3 pt Review of Caleb Rossiter ‘s new book: “Aint Nobody Be Learnin’ Nothin’: The Fraud and the Fix for High Poverty Schools”
Mayor, Council Members, State Board of Education Members, This is assigned reading. It’s time to take off the rose colored glasses and stop the routine affirmations of “I support education reform” without looking past the polished press releases. Please stop … Continue reading
Posted in College prep, Education Fraud, Education policy, Education Reform, Erich Martel, Ethics, K-12
Tagged DC, DCPS, education, fraud, grades, Martel, Mathews, Rossiter, schools, social promotion
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Starting school already behind
Underprivileged students start first grade already two grade levels behind more privileged students. The obvious solution to this discrepancy is to give the underprivileged kids more time, as in another year at the beginning of primary school. That would appear … Continue reading
Posted in Education policy, K-12, Richard P. Phelps
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What Led to the “Massachusetts Education Miracle”?
Most governors, state commissioners of education, state boards of education, and Chambers of Commerce seem to have an unshakable confidence in Common Core’s standards as the silver bullet that will make all K-12 students college and career ready. This confidence … Continue reading
Robert T. Oliphant, 1924-2014
Robert T. Oliphant 1924-2014 Bob Oliphant passed away in June, 2014. He was one of the most optimistic and generous people I’ve ever met, and one of my best friends. That despite the fact that we never met face-to-face—a typical … Continue reading
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